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Thursday, April 30, 2009

I feel privileged to have brought you a collection of Martin Armstrong’s recent works. His insights are valuable, I believe, to society and to our markets. He has a unique understanding of cycles and market dynamics while his legal problems and jail experience have certainly given him unique insights into the rule of law as he clearly explained in But They Can't Do That!

I do not know Mr. Armstrong personally and have never met him. I am not an attorney and do not have personal knowledge of the merits of his case or the case of the government. Therefore, I must remain agnostic in regards to guilt or innocence, but I am not agnostic in regards to whether due process has been served in his case, nor do I waffle in stating that it appears he has been forced into confinement for a period of time longer than is the standard for the alleged crime.

Below, I present ALL the information he just released in an attempt to make his case in public. It will be controversial, that is why I agreed to post it. Debate on this subject is healthy, in my opinion, just keep in mind that we are viewing only one side. I would ask than anyone with legal expertise in these areas please feel free to offer your opinion on what he says or please share any background or supporting information you may have, even if you do so confidentially via email or in the comments section below.

Some of the things he has experienced in prison are shocking as he describes in Behind the Curtain:

Click on picture to read, use back browser to return:

At the beginning of this month, Martin filed the following motion and I understand that the SEC has agreed to review his case. He makes some very serious accusations about the SEC and others:

Click on "more" and "print" if desired. Toggle full screen in upper right corner:

Initially held in prison for years on contempt charges, Martin claims that the SEC conspired with and controlled the judges appointed to oversee his case:

He goes as far as to accuse the system of torture that led to his “confession” in an attempt to force some sort of release date (now Sept., 2011), because prior to that he was being held indefinitely and asked to provide something he claims he doesn’t possess:

A little investigation revealed that the signator of that report happens to know a little bit about complex financial transactions and WORKED FOR THE SEC. He now works for Capstone Advisory Group, LLC and boasts a very impressive background:

Background

Michael M. Mulligan is a Managing Director of Capstone Advisory Group, LLC, and is based in the Washington, DC office. Prior to joining Capstone, Mr. Mulligan was the Executive Director of FCL Advisors, Int’l, Inc. As a former Senior Counsel for the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Michael specializes in consulting for clients in the areas of securities fraud, forensic accounting, complex financial fraud, and corporate and disclosure controls. Other areas of service involve business and lost business valuation, contract damages, broker/dealer suitability and domestic and international funds tracing. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, and is a licensed attorney in the Commonwealth of Virginia and Washington, DC.

Cases

During his 20-plus year professional career, Michael has consulted with companies and/or investigated cases involving a wide range of financial and legal issues. He has worked for 3 years as an auditor in public accounting and 3 years as an accountant in the Division of Corporation Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Additionally, he worked for 5 years as an attorney-investigator-prosecutor in the Division of Enforcement of the SEC, and then spent 4 years managing a 40person legal and financial consulting office in Kiev, Ukraine.

Industry Experience

As an attorney at the SEC, Michael litigated fraud claims and acted as lead counsel on several complex securities fraud investigations. Michael has investigated and/or prosecuted a wide range of cases involving fraudulent financial statements. Such cases were based upon allegations that issuers had improperly “managed earnings;” improperly accounted for acquisition and/or restructuring charges; prematurely recognized revenue; or violated the books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He has also worked on cases involving insider trading, improper markups on securities sales, market manipulations through complex trading schemes, savings and loan fraud and generic fraud in the offering.

Armstrong offers up several articles written about him and his case for background:

The above article came from a list of articles Martin suggested reading about him and his case:

Us vs ZichettloKrisMarty wanted this posted along with everything else regarding his innocence.

So, that’s a lot of information to digest about a very complicated case, and as I mentioned, it’s one side of the story. My life experience teaches me not to dismiss what he is saying. I believe that judges, the SEC, and others sometimes think they possess powers that were never given to them, and in some instances they wield those self-given powers in ways that are against the principals found in our Constitution. I think his case should be reviewed, but it should be reviewed by a neutral party, not the SEC.

I know of a lot of criminals who deserve what Armstrong is going through, or worse, and are not only walking free, but they are calling the shots (hear me Hank Paulson?). Again, I appreciate input from anyone with legal expertise or experience in matters such as this. Also would love to see his case garner more media attention, so anyone in the media seeking a good investigative story let me know and I WILL hook you up.